Wireless

The Nikon D2H is in the unique position of having an optional
add-on (the WT-1) which enables WiFi (802.11b) transmission of images
to either a PC with WiFi capability (ad-hoc connection) or a Wireless
Base Station (infrastructure connection). Transmission is carried out
over standard TCP/IP using the FTP protocol (requiring you to have FTP
server software). Note: The version sold in Europe and Asia is the WT-1
(13 channel; 2412 - 2472 MHz) versus the WT-1A sold in the US and Canada
(11 channel; 2412 - 2462 MHz).

The WT-1 attaches to the bottom of the D2H via the tripod
mount and connects to the camera in two places. Firstly it takes power
from the camera's battery via a four prong connector on the top of the
WT-1, secondly it connects to the camera's USB port via a fly lead, the
connector has a rubber seal to maintain the D2H's weatherproof status
but also leaves the existing USB door hanging loose. Included with the
WT-1 is a special battery door which has a wire holder molded into its
side. While workable I found the fly lead setup to be a little strange,
it would have been neater to add USB to the connector on the top of the
WT-1.

Display / Image selection

In playback mode images in the transfer queue are indicated
with a white icon, those already transferred have a blue icon and the
image currently being transferred has a green icon. As mentioned above
there are several ways to place images into the D2H's "transfer queue",
you can enable Auto send which places every image taken into the queue
(marks it for transfer), you can select a folder of images previously
shot or you can manually select individual images by holding the thumbnail
button and pressing the center of the multiselector.

This image is in the transfer queue

...is now being transferred

...and has been successfully sent (the blue
color is far easier to see on the LCD screen than here)

As you can see the transfer icons are also
visible in thumbnail index mode

Nikon WT-1 Configurator

The WT-1 Configurator application (currently only available for Windows)
allows you to create wireless configuration files which can be written
onto a Compact Flash card and loaded quickly into the camera using the
'Load settings file?' menu option. One disappointment was that it is not
possible to have multiple .WT1 files on a single CF card (or rather that
the camera just loads the first). So while it would be possible to have
several CF cards each with their own settings file you can't select from
multiple files on a single card. Click
here for an example of a .WT1 file (it's plain text, we added the
.txt extension so that your browser will display it).

Performance

The tests below were carried out between a Nikon D2H +
WT-1 and a D-Link DWL-6000AP (dual 802.11a / 802.11b) wireless gateway.
This gateway allows for control of transmission speed so we could test
the WT-1 at a variety of speeds. Radio channel used: 6 (2437 MHz). The
server used was running Windows 2003 Server with the built-in FTP server
software, it was connected to the wireless gateway by a 100 Mbps LAN.
A batch of twenty five (25) 'Standard JPEG' images were transferred from
a folder on the CF card (2 GB SanDisk Ultra II) using the 'Send folder'
menu option (total size 25.7 MB).

Device

WEP

Data rate

Link / Signal
quality

Time taken

Calculated
speed

D2H + WT-1

Off

11 Mbps

5 / 5

98 sec

2.2 Mbps

D2H + WT-1

Off

5.5 Mbps

5 / 5

98 sec

2.2 Mbps

D2H + WT-1

Off

1 Mbps

5 / 5

285 sec

0.7 Mbps

D2H + WT-1

On, 40-bit

11 Mbps

5 / 5

101 sec

2.1 Mbps

D2H + WT-1

Off

Unknown

2 / 1

180 sec

1.2 Mbps

Sony Vaio

Off

11 Mbps

-

48 sec

4.5 Mbps

As you can see from the results above the D2H + WT-1 combination
appears to be limited to a maximum throughput of around 2.2 Mbps with
a good connection, that compared to the Sony Vaio (with built-in WiFi)
which manages just over twice that (which as we all know still far off
the 'marketed' rates). Despite this however a 1 MB Standard JPEG file
still takes just over 3.5 seconds to transfer, and of course all this
goes on in the background and so wouldn't interrupt your shooting flow.

In use, our Live PMA 2004 Show Report

As part of our preparation for PMA this year I discovered
that the Las Vegas Convention Center had, since last year, added wireless
(WiFi) connectivity across all of its halls and public areas. This gave
me an idea that we may be able to use the D2H and WT-1 combination to
deliver 'live from the show floor' images and reports directly over the
Internet to our primary server. *

After receiving our loan D2H and WT-1 from Nikon Europe
and performing in-house testing we headed off to Las Vegas. The setup
was tested the day before press day and found to be perfectly operational,
the camera happily connected to the nearest base station with a predefined
SSID and WEP encryption key, signal levels appeared to be good and test
transfers worked perfectly.

First day of the show, we arrived with two spare batteries
for the D2H (at this stage we had no idea how much effect the WT-1 would
have on battery life) and the WT-1. Quickly attached and switched on the
D2H immediately connected and showed a good signal. I had decided not
to use Auto Send as I wished to be able to select images on the LCD screen
for transmission back to the server. Working this way was relatively straightforward,
shots of the products and the stand were taken and images selected for
transmission sent in batch by the camera.

Transmission

Each hall at the LVCC had numerous base stations dotted
around on walls, columns and the ceiling, the D2H would simply lock on
to the strongest signal. In reality this meant that staying in one place
while the camera was transmitting delivered the best performance, wandering
across the hall while transmitting caused transmission to slow and the
camera needed to reconnect. Speed was variable because of differing signal
levels and interference but was always more than adequate for our purposes,
at its slowest around 30 seconds per 1 MB image.

Battery usage

We did find that the WT-1 had a detrimental effect on battery
life, but we had also expected this. I found myself swapping the battery
about once per day with the first battery showing between 15 and 20% remaining
life. We shot over 240 images per day and transmitted around 200 of those.

Reliability

No doubt at all the D2H and WT-1 combination proved totally
reliable, if it couldn't transfer the image because of a poor signal or
lack of coverage the image simply stayed in the transfer queue and the
camera tried again as soon as it could.

Conclusion

While we haven't seen any other WiFi offerings from any
other digital camera manufacturer I'm sure they're on the way, for now
the D2H and WT-1 are an excellent, capable and reliable combination which
worked very well for us in a live situation. Kudos Nikon.